The History of al-Ṭabarī, Vol. 30: The ‘Abbāsid Caliphate in Equilibrium: The Caliphates of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid pdf

Clifford Edmund Bosworth FBA est un historien et orientaliste anglais, spécialisé dans les études arabes et iraniennes. Il a obtenu son B.A. diplôme de l'Université d'Oxford et M.A. et Ph.D. diplômes de l'Université d'Edimbourg. Il a occupé des postes permanents à l'Université St. Andrews, à l'Université de Manchester et au Centre des sciences humaines de l'Université de Princeton. Il est l'auteur de centaines d'articles dans des revues académiques et de volumes composites. Ses autres contributions comprennent près de 200 articles dans l'Encyclopaedia of Islam et une centaine d'articles dans l'Encyclopædia Iranica, ainsi que des articles pour l'Encyclopædia Britannica et l'Encyclopedia Americana. Il est actuellement professeur invité à l'Université d'Exeter, où il occupe ce poste depuis 2004. Son livre Les dynasties islamiques a été traduit en arabe et en persan. Il est rédacteur en chef de l'Encyclopaedia of Islam et rédacteur consultant de l'Encyclopaedia Iranica.

The History of al-Ṭabarī, Vol. 30: The ‘Abbāsid Caliphate in Equilibrium: The Caliphates of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid pdf par Clifford Edmund Bosworth

This volume of al-Tabari's History covers nearly a quarter of a century, and after covering the very brief caliphate of al-Hadi, concentrates on that of Harun al-Rashid. During these years, the caliphate was in a state of balance with its external foes; the great enemy, Christian Byzantium, was regarded with respect by the Muslims, and the two great powers of the Near East treated each other essentially as equals, while the Caucasian and Central Asian frontiers were held against pressure from the Turkish peoples of Inner Eurasia. The main stresses were internal, including Shi'ite risings on behalf of the excluded house of 'Ali, and revolts by the radical equalitarian Kharijites; but none of these was serious enough to affect the basic stability of the caliphate. Harun al-Rashid's caliphate has acquired in the West, under the influence of a misleading picture from the Arabian Nights, a glowing image as a golden age of Islamic culture and letters stemming from the Caliph's patronage of the exponents of these arts and sciences. In light of the picture of the Caliph which emerges from al-Tabari's pages, however, this image seems to be distinctly exaggerated. Al-Rashid himself does not exhibit any notable signs of administrative competence, military leadership or intellectual interests beyond those which convention demanded of a ruler. For much of his reign, he left the business of government to the capable viziers of the Barmakid family--the account of whose spectacular fall from power forms one of the most dramatic features of al-Tabari's narratives here--and his decision to divide the Islamic empire after his death between his sons was to lead subsequently to a disastrous civil war. Nevertheless, al-Tabari's story is full of interesting sidelights on the lives of those involved in the court circle of the time and on the motivations which impelled medieval Muslims to seek precarious careers there.